Bangladesh signs up for Eurofighters in first pick of Western warplane

ROME — Bangladesh has signed a Letter of Intent to start talks to purchase the Eurofighter jet – a deal which would make it the first nation outside of Europe and the Middle East to buy the fighter.

The Bangladesh Air Force announced it would negotiate the deal with Italy’s Leonardo, the Italian firm which has handled the marketing of the jet to the Asian country.

“Leonardo will supply Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets to the Bangladesh air force under this letter of intent,” the service said.

Local media has suggested Bangladesh would seek to acquire up to 16 Eurofighters, which are built by a four-nation consortium of Italy, Germany, the U.K. and Spain.

The LOI was signed at the headquarters of the Bangladesh Air Force in the presence of Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Hasan Mahmood Khan and Italian ambassador to Bangladesh, Antonio Alessandro.

If the deal goes through it would mark Bangladesh’s first big purchase of a Western fighter. Another candidate has reportedly been China’s Chengdu J-10C.

Earlier this year, a group from the Bangladesh Air Force visited Leonardo’s facility in Turin, Italy, to test-fly the Eurofighter.

Bangladesh already operates AW109 and AW139 helicopters built by Leonardo.

The Italian firm is also running Eurofighter sales campaigns in the Philippines, where it has proposed a sale of 32 jets, and in Poland.

To date, 769 Eurofighters have been ordered, while ten nations are operating the jet: the U.K., Italy, Spain, Germany, Austria, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Oman.